1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electric connector accessory and to its method of assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an electric connector comprises, for each of its two portions, a connector body provided with an outside thread for receiving a locking nut, and inside the body of the connector, a connection base for receiving the conductor wires. The connector is wired by crimping contacts onto the conductor wires and inserting the contacts into the base.
In order to be able to put the locking nut into place on the connector body, it is necessary for the bundle of wires to be threaded through the nut before performing the operations of crimping and inserting the contacts. Furthermore, if action needs to be taken on some of the wires, it is necessary to undo the wiring of the bundle and subsequently to retest all of the wires.
Document FR 2 770 041 describes a removable coupling for an electric connector, the coupling being constituted by a collar comprising at least two portions and by a nut comprising two hinged-together portions. In order to be assembled, that structure requires a pin and a certain number of half-flanges and screws, thereby constituting a corresponding number of parts for putting into place during assembly, which requires time and skill.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One of the objects of the invention is to provide an electric connector accessory that is particularly simple to put into place, and that enables actions to be taken without requiring the wiring of the bundle to be undone.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electric connector accessory that enables the wires or the bundle to be grounded in simple manner.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an electric connector accessory that does not require the wires to be passed through the locking nut as a preliminary.
The invention provides an electric connector accessory for a bundle of electric wires, the accessory being constituted by an accessory body and by a nut, the nut being constituted by two half-nuts that are separated by an axial plane, the accessory body being suitable for being applied laterally against the bundle of wires, and for being held by locking the nut on the connector, characterized in that firstly the accessory body presents a laterally-open ring of generally cylindrical shape, and secondly the two half-nuts are suitable for assembling together by clip-fastening.
In advantageous manner, the accessory body is made as a single piece.
Advantageously, the accessory body is constituted by two half-shells together constituting a cylindrical sheath for the bundle of wires.
In advantageous manner, the accessory body presents a grounding lug.
Advantageously, the side opening of the ring enables the accessory body to be put into place on the bundle by a lateral approach after the wires of the bundle have been wired to the connector.
The invention also provides a method of assembling an electric connector accessory on a bundle of conductor wires, the method being characterized by the steps of:                wiring the wires of the bundle to the connector;        putting the accessory body into place on the bundle by a lateral approach;        putting the two half-nuts into place on either side of the bundle and connecting them together by clip-fastening; and        sliding the nut as constituted in this way onto the accessory body and screwing it onto the connector body in order to lock it.        
In advantageous manner, the method includes the additional step of:                connecting the ground of the bundle to the lug of the accessory body in order to provide grounding.        